A Song of Ice and Fire
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50 free A Song of Ice and Fire trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is the fantasy saga behind Game of Thrones, but the novels hold far more than the screen ever showed: dozens of narrators, family mottoes, old prophecies and thousands of years of invented history. Readers have spent decades arguing over its mysteries while they wait for the final volumes. This quiz sticks to the books. It covers the plot and the people of the published novels, who said which famous line, the great houses and their castles, the faiths and legends of Westeros and the lands across the sea, the prophecies fans love to decode, and the story of how Martin came to write it all. It is written for readers at every stage, from those who have just finished the first book to those on a fifth reread. Expect a gentle start and tougher questions later on, each with a short explanation. Spoilers for every published novel lie ahead.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which dynastic struggle for England's crown inspired the feuding houses of A Song of Ice and Fire?
The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses gave Martin his model of great houses fighting over a single throne. He has also named the French novels The Accursed Kings and Walter Scott's Ivanhoe as inspirations.
Q 02Which Roman frontier gave George R. R. Martin the idea for the Night's Watch's ice barrier?
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall, in the north of England near the Scottish border, gave Martin the idea when he visited it. He believes a barrier like the one in his novels is unique in fantasy.
Q 03What do the Ice and Fire novels usually call the icy beings that television renamed White Walkers?
The Others
The Others is their usual name in the books. Martin writes that their voices sound like the cracking of ice on a winter lake.
Q 04Which event in A Storm of Swords is based on Scotland's Black Dinner and the Glencoe Massacre?
The Red Wedding
The Red Wedding draws on the Black Dinner of 1440 and the Glencoe killings of 1692. In the novel it ends the life and the rebellion of Robb Stark, the young King in the North.
Q 05Which character, the author's own favorite, narrates the most chapters in the first five Ice and Fire novels?
Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion Lannister narrates 47 chapters across four of the five novels. Asked why he likes him best, Martin said he finds his wit appealing.
Q 06Which red-haired wildling spearwife keeps telling Jon Snow "You know nothing" in A Storm of Swords?
Ygritte
Ygritte repeats the line "You know nothing, Jon Snow" throughout the book. Jon first meets her as his prisoner, and spares her when he is ordered to execute her.
Q 07What name does Jon Snow give the direwolf pup he adopts in A Game of Thrones?
Ghost
Ghost is named for his white fur and his silence, since he never makes a sound. The other five pups in the litter go to the trueborn Stark children.
Q 08Which sword does Jon Snow have the smith Mikken forge as a parting gift for Arya Stark?
Needle
Needle is named after the needlework lessons Arya hates. It is a light, thin blade made for quick thrusting attacks, which suits her slender build.
Q 09Which animal mortally wounds King Robert Baratheon on a hunt, putting Joffrey on the Iron Throne?
A wild boar
A wild boar gores the king in what looks like a hunting accident but was arranged by his queen. On his deathbed he names Ned Stark regent for the boy Joffrey.
Q 10Which character tells Ned Stark, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die"?
Cersei Lannister
Cersei Lannister says it after Ned privately confronts her and offers her the chance to flee into exile with her children. She stays, and adds, "There is no middle ground."
Q 11Which adviser to Stannis Baratheon says, "The night is dark and full of terrors"?
Melisandre
Melisandre is a priestess of R'hllor, the Lord of Light, and the words are a common saying among his worshippers. Sold to the Red Temple as a child slave, she was trained there for the priesthood.
Q 12Which character asks the imprisoned Ned Stark, "Why is it always the innocents who suffer most"?
Lord Varys
Lord Varys asks it in Ned's cell after remarking on what honesty and honor have won him. The spymaster was born a slave in the Free City of Lys.
Q 13Which companion of Bran Stark says, "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies"?
Jojen Reed
Q 21Which vast landmass lies east of Westeros across the Narrow Sea and holds the nine Free Cities?
Essos
Essos stretches far to the east, with the Free Cities strung along its western edge. To its south lie two more continents that the story leaves largely unexplored.
Q 22Which Free City, guarded by a giant statue called the Titan, is home to the Iron Bank?
Braavos
Braavos was founded by escaped slaves and refugees from an empire of dragonlords, unlike its eight sister cities. Its Iron Bank has lent millions to the crown of the Seven Kingdoms.
Q 23Which seat of House Arryn is based on Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle?
The Eyrie
The Eyrie is the smallest of the great castles, seven slim towers bunched tightly together. It is considered unassailable, and all its food has to be brought up from the valley below.
Jojen Reed says it in A Dance with Dragons, adding that the man who never reads lives only one. He is thirteen when he first appears, but his seriousness makes him seem older.
Q 14Which captive knight tells Catelyn Stark, "There are no men like me. There's only me"?
Jaime Lannister
Jaime Lannister says it as a prisoner at Riverrun, where Catelyn questions him. She goes on to free him, out of grief and fear for her two hostage daughters.
Q 15What are the official words of House Lannister, as opposed to the saying about paying debts?
Hear Me Roar
Hear Me Roar goes with the golden lion on the Lannister banner. "A Lannister always pays his debts" is a common saying about the family, not its motto.
Q 16In the Ice and Fire novels, what is the real first name of Winterfell's stableboy Hodor?
Walder
Walder is his given name, but he is called Hodor because it is the only word he can say. He is Old Nan's great-grandson and carries Bran Stark on his back after the boy is crippled.
Q 17Which name does the resurrected Catelyn Stark take as the vengeful leader of an outlaw brotherhood?
Lady Stoneheart
Lady Stoneheart earns the name through her uncompromising brutality. Lord Beric Dondarrion gives up his own life force to revive her after her body has lain in the river for days.
Q 18Which warrior searches for Sansa Stark with Oathkeeper, a sword reforged from Ned Stark's Ice?
Brienne of Tarth
Brienne of Tarth is given the blade for her mission to find Sansa and take her to safety. Knights mock her with a cruel nickname, yet she believes that they should always honor their vows.
Q 19Which former smuggler is called the Onion Knight for running food into besieged Storm's End?
Davos Seaworth
Davos Seaworth brought onions and salted fish through the blockade, and Stannis knighted him for it. Stannis also cut off the fingertips of his left hand to punish his years of smuggling.
Q 20Which Night's Watch steward is nicknamed "the Slayer" after killing a White Walker with dragonglass?
Samwell Tarly
Samwell Tarly stabs the creature in desperation and it dies at once. A self-professed coward, he was forced into the Watch by his father so that a younger brother could become heir.
Q 24Which region of Westeros defied Aegon the Conqueror and joined the realm only later, by marriage?
Dorne
Dorne stayed independent for almost two hundred more years through guerrilla resistance. Ruled by House Martell, it is the hottest and least populated part of the continent.
Q 25Which enormous castle, burned by Aegon the Conqueror's dragon, is widely believed to be cursed?
Harrenhal
Harrenhal was meant to be the largest fortress ever built in Westeros. House after house that held its ruins has since died out, which is why people call it cursed.
Q 26Which ancient homeland of House Targaryen was destroyed in a cataclysm known as the Doom?
Valyria
Valyria fell after the Targaryens had already moved west to an island outpost, so they survived with the last of its dragons. What caused the cataclysm is never specified.
Q 27Which city of pyramids on Slaver's Bay does Daenerys Targaryen rule in A Dance with Dragons?
Meereen
Meereen is the largest of the three slaver cities she conquers, as populous as the two smaller ones combined. Its ruling slavers are known as the Great Masters.
Q 28Which island fortress was the Targaryens' first home in Westeros and later Stannis Baratheon's seat?
Dragonstone
Dragonstone has towers carved by sorcery into the shapes of dragons, and Daenerys was born there as her family's rule collapsed. King Robert gave it to Stannis, who had wanted Storm's End.
Q 29Which port city of the Reach is home to the Citadel, headquarters of the order of maesters?
Oldtown
Oldtown is dominated by the Hightower, which recalls the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria. Aegon the Conqueror dated his reign from the day he entered the city and was acknowledged as king there.
Q 30Which castle of Westeros, carved from a mountain above a harbor city, is the ancestral seat of House Lannister?
Casterly Rock
Casterly Rock was inspired by the Rock of Gibraltar, and the family's wealth comes from the gold of the surrounding hills. No chapter of the first five novels is actually set inside it.